Cafe Terra

Another Sunday Brunch – this time as a farewell for our friend Esha, who’s moving to Australia for work and should be away for at least a year or so. Tired of going to Church Street Social, I googled some places in Koramangala. My first thought was actually to visit either 154 Breakfast Club or Beans Cafe, but thought we could try out something new. Google results showed Cafe Terra having a rating of 4.1 and in a convenient location, and our choice was made.

We arrived at 1030 passing a crowded Hole in the Wall cafe on the way. Terra was thankfully not full and we found ourselves a table by the corner. It’s a small place with a very young ambience – comic books all over, bright red walls and modern, minimal style furniture. It took some time for us to catch the attention of one of the waiters to place our order. I was ravenous and ordered a railway masala omelette. Wife ordered oats with honey, fruits and nuts and Aditya ordered a blueberry smoothie and chicken momos.

The masala omelette arrived with couple of surprises – toast and mashed potato! It wasn’t mentioned in the menu, and maybe is a practice here, but hey a pleasant surprise to get something more! The omelette, while slightly oily was delicious, with the tomatoes and coriander leaves lending a very desi flavour. Wife made a face with the first spoon of oats – she complained that they had cooked with yoghurt rather than milk and that it tasted awful. I tried it, couldn’t detect the yoghurt, but was tasteless nevertheless. Instead of the blueberry smoothie we had gotten a strawberry smoothie, but Aditya loved it, so no complaints. I did not taste the chicken momos, he said it was OK.

Filter CoffeeFilter Coffee with the pot for 4

Pallavi and Esha were running a little late – with our hunger satiated for the present, we decided to dawdle for a while and ordered a pot of filter coffee. We chatted for a while and kept throwing the kitchen expectant glances, but the coffee did not seem to be coming at all. Aditya finally called the waiter and asked for the coffee, after which it was brought in. Despite the delay, I must say it was pretty solid filter coffee – I could taste the strong decoction.

Pallavi arrived and we promptly ordered our breakfast. Esha had just woken up and her coming seemed unlikely.

Full English Breakfast for self and Pallavi.
Moroccan ChakChouk for wife
Bacon & Eggs with Toast and Butter, Ham and Cheese Crepe for Aditya.
Waffles with Maple Syrup to be shared between self, wife and Pallavi

Again, the order took its own sweet time in arriving (maybe this is deliberate for us to chat more over brunch?). Aditya had to bug the waiter twice after which he got us our food. But there was a bit of confusion – Pallavi’s toast wasn’t toasted enough, and by the time my plate arrived Aditya realised that I had more of everything. More beans, better toast, more potato mash and more bacon. He would have none of it – he’s all for equality and made the waiter fill up Pallavi’s plate with the same amount as I did. Just as I was about to tuck into my sausage, my plate was taken away too – for reference it seems! We got our plates back with all the corrections. The breakfast was good I must say – I didn’t have any complaints about any of the items. I liked the crispy hash browns especially, sneaked one off of the wife’s plate as well.

Wife’s plate also needed some refurbishment – the egg topping was not cooked enough and had to be redone. However once it was done, it was pretty good – a taste that I haven’t experienced before. Moroccan I guess. I tried the crepe, didn’t find anything great about it. I guess I am not going to be a crepe man.

We got the bill and it had come to INR 1793 – food charges of 1590, service tax of 92 and service charge of 111. Wife suggested that we should ask them to waive the 111 or at least reduce it, with reference to the recent Supreme Court order, but I was too full to have an argument. Next time maybe.

As we prepared to leave, Esha walked in!! Whatay! Even by her standards, this was pleasantly unpredictable. She was hungry as well – I recommended the railway masala omelette, she picked that and a filter coffee and seemed happy at the end of it.

Cafe Terra is a decent place overall – the food is fine, the ambience is good and pleasant, and the staff are polite. I would love to give them a 4/5 but the only reason I wouldn’t is the slow service and the slight bungling. Or maybe it was destiny that we had to meet Esha!

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Published by Kumar Raja

I am a business technologist, trying to see what else useful I can do apart from selling IT. Food fascinates me - across cuisines, establishments and cities. I now live to eat.
View all posts by Kumar Raja